


APTM 2245

by Anonymous



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Author is trying, Beaches, Editor Akaashi Keiji, Fluff with a Sad Ending, Heartbeats, M/M, New Years, Photography, Pre-Relationship, Pro Volleyball Player Bokuto Koutarou, Stargazing, Strangers to Lovers, Sunrises, Tags Are Hard, Volleyball
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 08:02:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24966406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Two rings in, there was another voice. “Hello, you’ve reached Akaashi, how can I help you today?”“Ah, hey um Akaashi, I found your um notebook in the waiting room and so I found your number in there. So any way I can get this back to you?” Bokuto asked.Static echoed through the phone. “I’ll send you my address. Tell me when you’re here.”(( Bokuto returns a lost notebook with a list of places Akaashi wanted to go. So, they end up going those places together, falling in the tune of a heartbeat ))
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou
Comments: 8
Kudos: 44
Collections: Anonymous





	APTM 2245

A single notebook laid on the waiting table. It was rather plain with a black cover with some gold etchings on the border. A black pen was also clipped on the spine of the book. Other than that, it was just there, with no one next to it and no one that seemed to take a second glance at it.

Thus, Bokuto took it upon himself to return it to the owner. After all, it wasn’t every day he saw a left over object in the hospital. To clear up any misunderstandings, he was there for his yearly December checkup because he was one hundred and two percent healthy as always. Wait, where did the extra two percent come from? That was besides the point.

Picking it up, he pondered how he should approach this. “If I open it, maybe I could find information on how to find the owner. But if I open it, would the owner get mad at me?”

Humming in contemplation, his fingers unwillingly found themselves at the cover, flipping it over slowly. To his relief, the back of the cover contained a phone number. But something on the first page caught his eye, a list of sorts.

In a small cursive-like font, it wrote.

_I’m beginning this journal of sorts on 6/3 this year. I have been recommended to start a To Do list so here it is. Maybe it’s just things I wish to do eventually._

  * ~~_Visit the local animal shelter_~~


  * See the sunrise on the beach


  * Go stargazing atop a hill for a night


  * Pay my respects to the shrine gods


  * ~~Go to the digital art gallery~~


  * ~~Visit that famous cafe in the neighboring city~~


  * Play volleyball again


  * Experience the New Year fireworks



“That sounds...” Bokuto murmured, closing the book again. “Like a lot of fun. Awh, this person sounds like a lot of fun. Wonder if they’d let me come along with them. I wanna see the sunrise on a beach! I want to go stargazing! Ah, but first things first.”

He whipped out his phone, unlocking his owl lockscreen with his fingerprint and going to the phone app, typing in the number.

Two rings in, there was another voice. “Hello, you’ve reached Akaashi, how can I help you today?”

What a nice voice, Bokuto thought. “Ah, hey um Akaashi, I found your um notebook in the waiting room and so I found your number in there. So any way I can get this back to you?”

A silence from the other end of the phone. 

“Did you read the contents of the notebook?”

“I just looked at it a little I swear, just the first page accidentally and don’t worry about it, I think it’s pretty cool what you’re doing and I would love to do all those things. I mean not like you want a random nobody to do stuff with, I’m just saying you seem pretty neat and--” Bokuto rambled in one quick breath, afraid the stranger was already going to hate him.

Static echoed through the phone. “I’ll send you my address. Tell me when you’re here.”

>unknown number: [address]

“Hey, looks like we’re getting somewhere,” Bokuto beamed, rushing off to the parking lot to start up his car, inputting the address as the car warmed up. “Let's go meet Mr. Has A Nice Voice.”

⬖𝄋⬗

“Should be here?” He peered up the door within the apartment. “Well might as well!”

>Bokuto: I’M HERE

>Bokuto: oops caps i’m outside ur door

To his shock, even before he could send the second text, the door flew open. “I take it you’re the guy who picked up my notebook.”

“Hey-- how did you get here so fast?” Bokuto stammered, half at the immediate confrontation and half as he took in the stranger. Akaashi, as he introduced himself over the phone, was shorter than him, with curly short hair and sea blue eyes framed by black glasses. The face surely suited the mental image he received from just hearing his voice once. 

“Heard your voice through the door. That’s besides the point, can I have it.”  
Holding the notebook in both hands, Bokuto thrusted it forward. “Here you go! Don’t worry about it too much, I’m super forgetful too. I leave my stuff all over and I’m always happy when someone gives it back, so I thought I’d return the sentiment! Not that--”

“Thanks.” Slender fingers brushed past his as the book transferred between them. “If I could pay you back in anyway, just ask.”

He blinked a few times. “Um, I can’t think of anything I need really. Just glad to help.”

Akaashi hesitated, as if he wanted to ask something but changed his mind. “Very well then, we’ll part ways now. Bye.”

“See you around, Akaashi!” Bokuto waved enthusiastically, which was mirrored by a much smaller wave. Turning on his heel, he was about to head back down the steps when he was stopped in his tracks by a “Wait I didn’t catch your name yet.”

He stopped, turning back around, beaming. “It’s Bokuto. Bokuto Koutarou! Remember it!”

“Thank you, Bokuto-san.”

⬖𝄋⬗

And that was all he would see of that man, Bokuto believed. Honestly, he thought Akaashi was nice and all and was hoping to see him around more, but he didn’t want to bother the other. After all, they met by chance and that was it. The end.

And that was true for the first week at least.

It wasn’t until then that he heard anything from Akaashi. But how he heard from the other was unexpected at the best. 

Bokuto was getting ready to hit the sack when he heard a buzz from his phone. Confused, he figured it was one of his friends reminding him about something he didn’t do or some other strange late night request. But instead, he saw a different contact pop up.

>Akaashi: Bokuto-san, did you mean what you said a week ago?

>Akaashi: nevermind, it’s late I didn’t mean to send that

>Bokuto: which thing??

>Akaashi: that you’d like to go through this list with me I mean, over the phone the first day

>Bokuto: OH THAT! YEAH I’D LOVE TO! IF YOU’D LET ME

>Akaashi: ...if I could take a month of you time, that’ll be it 

>Bokuto: that’s great actually! I’m pretty free all month, and we can see those fireworks!

>Akaashi: thanks

>Akaashi: could you come over so we could talk abt this whenever you have time?

>Bokuto: I’ll drop by tomorrow!

>Bokuto: See you soon, Akaashi! <3

Giddy to the fact he was going to see the other man soon, Bokuto found himself staring at their texts for practically thirty minutes before he finally dozed off, his phone flopping out his hand, gently finding a place on his bed.

December was off season anyway.

⬖𝄋⬗

“Hey hey hey! Nice to see you again!” 

A small smile seemed to graze over Akaashi’s face, but that could’ve been the light. “Good afternoon to you too, Bokuto-san. Come on in.”

Kicking off his shoes, Bokuto let himself in, calling out a greeting at the doorway, only to realize it was pretty much just the two of them. To be expected, the room he entered into was cleaned in such a way that it was welcoming, with a table on his right surrounded by a matching couch and chair. On that table laid some small snacks and some tea. 

“Wah, Akaashi, we’re just chatting, no need for such a fancy set up!”

Soft footsteps came from behind him, eventually stopping at the couch. “It’s really nothing. I was just keeping my hands busy. Anyway, sit down, we can talk about what we’re going to do?”

Bokuto sat down, as requested, next to Akaashi. There wasn’t too much space on the couch clearly by how they were practically right next to one another. So close Bokuto was able to catch a whiff of something floral scented.

“Sorry there’s not much room here, I don’t typically have guests.” Akaashi explained, offering up a plate of snacks, “Anyway, let’s talk about this.”

“Thanks,” Bokuto chirped, reaching out to grab a handful of food. “Anything works with me!”

He leaned over, peeking the list again.

“We could start with something easy. I can get us into a volleyball court super easy,” Bokuto paused, glancing around nervously, “Because I may be a pro player, but not that you would know me right? Ahaha, I’m kidding. We can deal with that. What position did you use to play? Why’d you stop?”

“I recognize you, from the MSBY right? I used to play setter and I just lost touch with it after high school I guess. Never found the time to get back to it.”

Bokuto gasped excitedly, “Woah, you know me! And you can set for me? You're the best!”

A hesitant nod. “It’s been a while, but I should remember how. I’m out of practice, but if we take it slow, I think I can manage.” Akaashi paused, taking out his phone, flipping to some app that was unfamiliar to Bokuto. There were a bunch of numbers there that didn’t make sense to Bokuto. One number that was about three million and another around 70. “It should be alright.”

“Great! I can pick you up tomorrow and we can head over to the courts! After that, we can wing the rest of the list, y’know. Let us go where the wind takes us.”

“That sounds lovely, Bokuto-san.”

⬖𝄋⬗

That’s how the next day, Bokuto ended up at the same apartment he memorized the route to, heading off to the team’s side gymnasium. While smaller than the main gym, it had everything they needed already set up and ready to go. 

“It’ll just be the two of us here, no one to bother us. Rest of the team went home for the offseason anyway!” Bokuto explained, stretching out his arms cheerfully. 

“It’s just as I remember,” Akaashi murmured, rolling a volleyball in his hands, fingers twitching as they ghosted over each of the ridges. “Shall we do a quick warm-up, Bokuto-san?”

“Nah I’m pumped already, set for me! We can take this slow.”

With a hesitant look, Akaashi stepped onto the court, steadying his breath and taking one final spin of the ball in his hands before he threw it into the air, watching with amazement as it peaked, beginning to fall back down until a hand spiked it straight down.

It was just like he’d always seen behind a screen, but in person, at an angle no cameras could capture. The professional player soared, expanding his wings to crash through the ball, eyes gleaming as if they had targets on the objective. 

He let out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding when Bokuto landed, shoes squeaking on the floor as the other rushed over. 

“That was _amazing_ , Akaashi! Wow that felt so natural to hit like--” Bokuto made some wild motions with his hands that made Akaashi laugh. Bokuto burst into laughter alongside him, beaming even though he didn’t really understand why Akaashi was so happy. Maybe it was just the thrill of being on court again. “Set for me again?”

“Of course, did you need to ask?”

Again, the two of them raced across the court, eyes catching one another as the ball soared, arching perfectly to catch the rays through the window, landing with a resounding echo in the gym.

Cheers filled his ears, the sound bouncing around the room. Before he knew it, Bokuto had his arms wrapped around the setter. “That was so cool! You should get back to volleyball, you definitely have the skill! I’d love to hit your balls in a real game!”

“Flattered you think so,” Akaashi panted. “I think that’s enough for today, or just for me in general. I’m really out of shape. But that was fun. Thank you.” 

Bokuto noticed the other didn’t shy away from his embrace. It was warm like so, maybe just for a little bit, he felt a pulse racing under his fingers. With a few seconds, he let go, allowing Akaashi to go over and grab his phone. Satisfied, he began to clean up the court, knowing his teammates would scold him if he didn’t. Plus, it helped fill the silence.

Off the corner of his eyes, he found Akaashi on the benches. Maybe it was his imagination to see the concern cross Akaashi’s face when he turned on his phone. 

⬖𝄋⬗

The following Tuesday, they found themselves trekking up a hill past sunset. The last remnants of oranges fading to purples lined the horizon as they slowly made their way to a trail. Despite Bokuto having the energy to rush up the hill, he took his time, staying beside Akaashi who insisted to take it a little slower.

“So what do you do? I mean like job wise?” 

“Ah, right, I suppose it’s only fair since you told me your occupation. In simple words, I’m an editor.” Akaashi explained through breaths. “It was just what took my skills after I graduated and that’s just what I’ve been pursuing. What about you, how did you go pro?”

Bokuto hummed, putting his arms behind his slightly tilted head. “My teammates said I was good in high school, so I just went with it. Plus, it's fun!”

“I can see that.” Akaashi murmured through a grin. “You’re so fascinating to watch. Your plays are really something to watch over and over.” He paused, glancing up. “We should take a break after this hill, rest our legs a little.”

“Alright, whatever you need!”

Bokuto reached the top first, sighing happily as he got the chance to look around. Up there, the city looked so small, like little lights on a board. Houses could no longer be differentiated from one another and all merged into small glimmering circles.

The sound of grass and gravel behind him signalled Akaashi reaching the top.

“It’s beautiful.” Akaashi noted softly into the wind. 

Before he knew it, words slipped out of Bokuto’s mouth. “Like you.” The other showed no signs of hearing it. It was probably too soft to hear over the wind anyway. It was alright, just another secret hidden within his heart that fluttered at the sight of the other man.

“Did you say something?”

“No, it was nothing.” Bokuto replied, plastering his signature grin back on his face. “Shall we finish our hike and settle down for the night?”

They walked the rest of the way with Bokuto telling some short story about his family and Akaashi simply listening, replying at all the right places, laughing at every joke, letting the owl haired man wave his hands frantically in describing the chaos of family celebrations. 

Peeking up the next area, they found themselves on a flatter plane, one where they were able to settle down the blankets they brought alongside Akaashi’s tripod. He insisted that since they were going to such a scenic place, he needed to take pictures, even bringing what seemed to be a rather expensive looking camera on the hike. While Akaashi sat there curled up on the blankets, Bokuto seemed to still be full of energy, rushing around with whatever caught his attention, whether it be a bug or just some grass.

 _Click._ Bokuto turned, grinning. “Was that the shutter?”

“Perhaps.” Akaashi whispered, eyes focused on the camera in front of him. “It’s a wonderful view, why would I not take a picture?”

“You think I’m a wonderful view?” Bokuto teased.

Akaashi leaned back onto the blankets, taking one quick glance at his phone before setting his camera upwards to a long exposure shot of the stars that seemed to turn around them. “Maybe.” Surprised, Bokuto began to sputter out some nonsensical words, only interrupted by a small laugh.

“Stargazing, complete.” With one quick motion, he pulled out his notebook, drawing a strikethrough the task. “We’ve really made so much progress on this list in this short time. I’m so grateful.” 

“Yeah, me too.”

They sat together the rest of the night in comfortable silence. 

⬖𝄋⬗

“Why aren’t we visiting the shrine alongside the New Years fireworks?”

“Because it’s less crowded on weekdays and I know a better spot for New Years.” Akaashi explained again. “Plus, remember I have weak health, this’ll give me time to walk up these steps.” Just mentioning the steps caused them both to lift their heads in unison at the stairway above them.

Despite them already being halfway there, the top gate seemed so far away. 

Bokuto sighed dramatically. “Was it a bad idea to do this a few days after hiking on that trail? Probably. Was it me who suggested we visit this shrine because I was here once on a field trip and loved it? Yes. Was I probably more energetic back then? Who knows.”

“It’s alright, we’re almost there--”

Akaashi returned a sigh of his own, pausing on a step to check on his phone, glaring at the screen in such a way that Bokuto almost asked, but figured not to. 

“Hey hey, the phone did nothing wrong. How about I tell you a story of the time I lost my indoor shoes during school instead? If you keep your mind busy, I’m sure time will pass faster and we’ll be there before you know it! See the gate’s right there! I’ll help you!”

He only needed a nod before he went off into his tangent, continuing to help Akaashi up with a supporting hand on the other’s arm. 

It was a comforting warmth they got used to over the weeks they spent together. After all, even if they weren’t going through the list, they still spent plenty of time together. One day they would go to a local cafe or the other to the movies. Other times, they just stayed at one of their houses, chilling and playing games. Just typical day to day stuff that didn’t need an immense amount of work and they could do spontaneously when one called for the other.

“We’re here.” Bokuto announced as they finally found the last step under their feet. Looking down, it really wasn’t that great of a climb, yet they were probably still tired from earlier that week.

“Finally,” Akaashi breathed, tucking his phone back into his jacket pocket and releasing his arm from Bokuto’s grip. He began to wander around, much to Bokuto’s amusement. 

“You act like you’ve never been up to a shrine.”

Akaashi peered over, eyes peeking over slightly sliding glasses. “I haven’t actually. Don’t apologize, I know most people come here on field trips or to say their prayers, but my parents weren’t really believers of all this and my school wasn’t really near one.”

“I see! So your first time is with me then!” Bokuto exclaimed happily, heart flipping. “Let’s go to the altar, say our prayers and then get our fortunes! It’s close enough to the New Years, they probably have a box of those out already. Just follow after me!”

As they went through the shrine, they stopped at a few places where Akaashi took pictures with his phone, admiring what was built there. Other than that, they continued on peacefully, as there were few people there, stopping only once they reached the altar and kneeled down to make their wishes.

_I wish for the happiness of my family and friends, including Akaashi._

Bowing twice they went over to the bell and rang it, the ringing echoing through the mountains and sending their wishes off into the air.

“What did you wish for, Akaashi?”

Akaashi huffed playfully “It won’t come true if I tell you. Plus, it's not really that interesting. I’m sure it will only bore you. Shall we continue on instead?”

Perking back up, Bokuto dragged the other to the box of O-mikuji fortunes, excitedly rambling about how accurate they were and how last year, he got a medium blessing and ended up having one of the best years of his life and so they were surely fortunes. All the words ended up in a mess anyway, but he took comfort in how Akaashi seemed to agree, going first to pull out a slip.

“Great blessing,” Akaashi read, eyes wrinkling with his smile. 

Bokuto’s eyes widened, “Woah I’ve never seen one of those. Your year is going to be great, Akaashi! I know it!” Beaming, he pat the other’s back before taking his own fortune. “Eh? Bad fortune? Nooo, Akaashi whatever will I do? You’ll have to stay besides me and protect me with your good luck.”

“I suppose I will have to try my best.”

“Wah, prolong the curse,” Bokuto cried, rushing over to the pine tree and tying the paper up, holding his hands out for a prayer. “Please let me be happy a little longer.”

Akaashi chuckled, folding up his paper and tucking it in his pocket.

“I’m sure the gods will notice and grant you a good year.”

⬖𝄋⬗

The last week of December, they found the warmest day to head off to the beach. Well, sure it was the warmest day that month, but when trying to catch the sunrise, the skies are still dark and the air along the beach is freezing, as they learned the hard way.

“H-how is it so cold?” Bokuto yelped, attempting to wrap his jacket around him through the wind. “Didn’t you say it was going to be warm?”

“Yeah,” Akaashi yelled against the wind, “It’s just early.”

Both shivering, they somehow managed to find shelter behind some rocks with some wild hand motions and running with the wind to lucily find the spot. Shuddering, they settled down, huddling together to preserve warmth.

With one swift movement, Bokuto pulled Akaashi down into his lap, reaching forward his hands to cup them around Akaashi’s. “Let me help you warm up.” Akaashi seemed surprised at the sentiment, but didn’t retract his hands, instead opting to shift his head to the other side, blushing. “How long until sunrise?”

“About five minutes. And then it’ll get warmer.”

“Alright! Are you gonna set up your camera? For the sunrise?” 

Akaashi paused, eyes flickering to the camera bag strapped around his neck. “I can do that later, for now, I’d like to stay here.” Here meaning in those arms. 

“Hey hey, did you know your heart is racing, Akaashi?”

“Really now? It’s alright now.”

Bokuto nodded furiously as if he was just accused of lying. “For sure, Akaashi. Your heart was super fast that day after volleyball too. Though it was just from the exercise, but is your heart always this fast? It's kind of cute, jumping around like that.”

He received no reply as Akaashi stood up, brushing the sand off his pants. “It's sunrise.”

On cue, the sun seemed to lift from the oceans, colors dripping onto the water like paint on a white canvas. The sky woke up alongside it, glowing rays of orange and red upon the darkness that once covered the sky. With the sun steadily chasing the shadows away, the sun reached them, first drowning their feet in hues of yellow on the sand until it reached their faces, lighting up streaks of white and black hair.

And like that, a blur of the same hair rushed past Akaashi, cheering.

“It's warmer under the sun, come here.” With a yank, Bokuto grabbed the other’s hand and pulled them towards the ocean, laughing filling the empty area. 

“Bokuto-san, please,” Akaashi said between giggles, “We can’t stay here that long.”

“What’s stopping us?”

Their toes dipped into the water and Bokuto watched the question reach Akaashi. The other seemed to pause in his steps, the water lapping at their feet. 

“Time I guess.”

⬖𝄋⬗

“And the last thing on the list.” Bokuto cheered. “Boy has it been a month. We should do this again next year, just a whole list of fun things to do.”

“I wish we could too.” Akaashi replied hesitantly, taking a few steps ahead of the other, face hidden by the angle. “Come on, let’s get to the sighting area before it’s too late.”

Bokuto followed cheerfully, “Where are we heading exactly?”

“You’ll see,” the raven haired simply said, guiding them up a sloped hill to the houses near the top. With the end of the road approaching, Bokuto began to mentally question where they even were. But once they made one final turn, it all made sense. As Akaashi called a better viewing place than the shrine, he was quite spot on. At the edge of the hill was a little clearing that was hidden by trees. 

It was a flat area that had plenty of space for the two of them to settle down with a perfect view of the sky in front of them. Settling down, Bokuto attempted to break the silence with some chatter, only for a finger to be raised to his mouth in a silencing motion.

Quietly, Akaashi pulled out his phone, glancing at the time. It was 11:58, only minutes away from New Years. He smiled at the other, eyes gleaming, but this time with tears. 

And for the second time ever, Bokuto saw the other pair of numbers on the device. Next to what he’d been told was the current heartbeat rate was a different number. What used to be up in the three millions was counting down slowly to the double digits. One twenty one. One twenty. One nineteen--

With two minutes from New Years, it seemed like a timer, only it was counting down much faster. 

“Hey, Akaashi.” Bokuto whispered. “That’s not the firework countdown is it?”

A slow nod. “I’m sorry I lied.” Akaashi admitted, pulling out his notebook and taking the pen out Flipping it open to the first page, he drew a line through “ _Experience the New Year fireworks”_. With a moment of hesitation, he decided to scribble one last task under it. “Cross it off for me.”

Shakily, Bokuto took the notebook and read the last line. _Fall in love._

“I’ll have enough heartbeats until the first fireworks peak. For the longest time, I’ve known I had limited heartbeats, so I never really got the chance to go out and have fun by myself. Thank you, for indulging me in my selfish bucket list. My heart was truly racing this past month, not a single beat was wasted. Thank you so much, Bokuto-san. I owe you my everything.”

“Please, stay. Just a little longer.”

Akaashi didn’t seem to register the words, instead leaning forward, left hand around his knees, hair fluttering with the wind as he held the phone in his right hand. Tears fell onto the screen, but it's not like the numbers would change. “Happy New Years, I hope you have a wonderful year ahead of you.”

Sky blue eyes closed as the numbers on screen hit zero. 

A final line marked the page.

**Author's Note:**

> If you get the title, you’re a real one...You also know what’s cool? The last two lines. It’s like heartbeats, when they reach zero, they are described as a flat line, and Bokuto drew that last line at the same time, so y’know happy accidents...
> 
> tl;dr Akaashi had a bucket list that he never could do in fear of living for less time, but found someone to spend that time with
> 
> I can't tell if this is sad or not anymore, so you tell me if I'm actually doing fluff with a sad ending correctly. Comments/suggestions/corrections welcome below...maybe i'll come back and edit this next week ahaha


End file.
